>> jennifer: thank you for joining us here in "the war room." you all have a great night and we'll see you back here tomorrow. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> it's "the young turks," and we're coming up next with a clinton in the mideast. >> as attacks from both sides continue diplomats converge on the reason. >> president obama has asked me to come to israel with a very clear message. >> what is that message? and will it work? plus we have republicans coming down hard on chris christie. >> i've got devastation on the shore. i've got floods in the northern part of my state. if you think right now that i give about presidential politics, then you don't know me. >> tonight we have how rupert murdoch made governor christie eat those words. plus cenk may be on vacation, but he's always working and he has a piece on money and

politics. >> if we don't fundamentally change the way these elections are financed, you're going to keep getting candidates who are in favor of their funders, of course! >> that and an awesome elbow of the day. today is the birth of joseph r. biden. ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> well, the calm in the middle east is non-existent. as a matter of fact, today was supposed to be a day of trying to work things out. hillary clinton, secretary of state, broke off her trip to asia, went to israel today. the bombing as we just learned from cnn, it's continuing. >> just moments ago we're on the scenes. we'll watch this videotape as we watch what is unfolding.

watch this. >> the day began as a day of diplomatcy. hillary clinton went to israel, and this is what they were trying to work out all day. [ explosion ] >> another day of violence in gaza. israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant and five others on an attack on a car. elsewhere, mass mitt tonights killed six people expected collaborating with israel. as attacks were both sides continue. >> i caution against a ground operation. >> diplomats converged on the region including secretary of state, hillary clinton. >> i can assure you that she'll be meeting with the palestinian authority. >> the goal of the egyptian-led negotiation is to broker an

immediate end to the fighting, which cannot happen until both sides lay down their arms. >> israel will not hesitate to do what is necessary to defend our people. >> i'm graced by the presence of patriciatricia rose secretary clinton cut short her trip to asia. she went there in the hopes of a cease-fire. michael, what is the first thing that resonates with you when you see her on the ground. >> i think the white house has to show they have an active involvement, and they're going to be there to broker a deal. this has been the tradition of the u.s. role to come in and work something out and hopefully a lasting peace not something that lasts just a couple of years before they do

this again. >> the first thing that struck me again when i heard this was going on, and that hillary clinton was meeting with netanyahu, it did not matter that netanyahu backed romney. all that time wasted, all that money wasted, perhaps but he still has america at his back. here is hillary clinton. >> president obama asked me to come to israel with a very clear message. america's commitment to israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. that's why we believe it is essential to de-escalate the situation in gaza. the rocket attacks inside gaza on israeli cities and towns must end, and a broader calm restored restored. >> so you hear hillary clinton there, israel saying some of the conditions they want out of this cease-fire is no more rockets fired out of gaza, soldiers

patrolling the frontier would not attack and weapons stock pile would not be relen replenished. as we saw the bombing today it hasn't happened yet. we'll be joined by tim mack, a defense reporter for politico. thank you for coming on to the show. i want to is ask you tim is president obama, he's oversea overseeing all this. is he doing a good job? are we able to judge whether his job, even sending clinton from afar, has done the right thing? >> we know that the president has been involved in the negotiations. he has talked to egyptian president morsi at least three times over the a last 24, 36 hours. we know he's involved accepting secretarysecretary of state hillary clinton. she broke off her asia trip to

go over there and channel some that have diplomacy that we haven't seen in a long time. >> you brought up morsi. i find his role fascinating. taking over egypt after the arab spring. mubarak was an ally to the country for so long, coming out of the camp david accords where sedatesadat was. >> i think from the american perspective egypt is a necessary broker. they consider hamas a terrorist entity. the u.s. does not directly deal with hamas. in order to be a broker between both sides the u.s. necessarily needs to deal with egypt. >> yes well, you know, john mccain we see hillary clinton there. john mccain had another opinion who he thinks should be over in the mideast talking to these people.

>> even someone as high ranking frankly as former president bill clinton to go and be the negotiator. i know he would hate me for saying that, but we need someone of enormous prestige and influence to sit down with the parties together and work as a broker. >> when we see mccain saying something nice about a democrat, he has to go and say one more thing. this is john mccain once again. >> if this god-forbid violence escalates, if someone was there brokering the process and bringing a halt to it. now the president makes phone callscalls from burma? i can tell that you al-qaeda is on the rise and they're moving throughout the middle east, and we'll pay a very heavy

price for it because of the lack of american leadership. >> you know michael, he mentions kissinger from the 70s, baker from the 90s and burma, that's not even what the country is called any more. is he totally out of touch. >> the last political figure-to-have any impact in there was clinton. bush didn't do very much. condoleezza rice didn't do very much. he has never been this israel. i think probably is not the time to get involved there. but in the second term, they'll have to continue to show that they're going to do a middle east peace deal again. >> in addition to all of this, which is local conversation, we need to think in a broader sense. there is no moral voice, and until we have that unquestionable moral voice with an honest broker as well as

spiritual dimension, this is not going to evolve. >> it does the president see this as an opportunity to be the moral voice that tricia talked about? >> you haven't seen him seizing on it. you don't see him going out and making speeches. you see him accepting secretary of state hillary clinton and behind the scenes rather than ahead of the issue. if he cares about it and wants to be seen as a moral leading global voice you got to think he would do a more public job of it. the ap was challenging victoria newland, the state department spokesperson why they haven't been more clear what their position is with regards to israel and this ongoing conflict. >> tim mak from politico, you would think if the president saw this as an opportunity he would

seize it. it just started and maybe he will. i have been disappointed by him before, but this seems like the kind of thing he would jump into to be that moral voice. a great conversation. when we come back we have cenk uygur talking about money and politics. >> a gusher of campaign tax. >> this has been the most expensive election of all times. >> we're here on the campus of ucla law school where they argue constitution. today they're discussing money out, voters in. >> and jayar jackson will love this. tweet us on @tytoncurrent if you can guess who it is.

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>> it's no secret to regular viewers of this show that cenk has long been passionate, unbelievably passionate about campaign finance reform. this past weekend at ucla law school, he was invited to participate in a conference called money out voters in. let's take a look at how that worked out. >> cenk: we're here on the campus of ucla law school.

where they debate constitutional issues. today they're doing a convention on money out voters in. the issue of getting money out of politics. they'll be discussing the problem and the solution. >> this has been the most expensive election of all-time. >> we know these days where there are politicians, there is big money. >> there are a lot of people who having trouble getting their head around the fact that one man like that can have such profound influence. >> white house answers campaign finance issues. >> a gusher of campaign cash this time around that's really changed the face of the entire presidential campaign. >> we've long been worried about the influence of money over politics. for purposes of the 14th amendment, delaware where the plurality of corporations would be entitled to something like 53 seats in the house. >> all of these people came out today to make sure that we could actually fight back together to clean up our politics. these are the people who recognize that we've got massive

corruption in our system. that the money buys influence. it buys politicians and ultimately it buys our government. as anybody who watched the last election is aware money has swamped our politics a little bit. in fact, $6 billion were spent on the different elections in this last round. >> i'm willing to assume everything i'm describing is perfectly legal. >> professor lawrence is a professor at harvard law school, the preeminent expert on campaign finance reform in the country. >> in this election cycle .3% of americans 0.3%, one third of one percent have given $200 or more. my favorite statistic 0.000042% that's 132 americans gave 60% of the super pac money used in this last election cycle. i think the number one problem is the root to every other problem and the root to every

other problem is that we fund campaigns by candidates obsessively raising money from the tiniest slice of the 1% rather than raising money from all of us. >> united states has two elections. one is the general election. the other we should call the money election. in the general election, all citizens -- if you have an i.d. in some states goat vote. in the money election, it is the funders who get to vote. the relevant funders of the campaign. it absolutely affects the way candidates think about what they're free to do after the election. buddy, when he ran for president had this slogan, free to lead. he wanted to be a candidate who could be a president who was free to lead. we have a congress filled with people who are not free to lead because they know that any decision they take will substantially affect the likelihood of them getting the kind of funding that they depend upon or inspire funding against them from the sort of people they're taking on. every other issue that we think of as important getting

healthcare system that works and we could afford, getting reform on wall street that doesn't -- that works. doesn't make our economy vulnerable to the gambles of people in our society. finding a way to address the fundamental debt crisis that will burden our children and our children's children and our children's children's children. if you don't fundamentally change the way these elections are financed, you're going to keep getting candidates who are in favor of their funders. of course! >> cenk: there was just a poll done where 67% of americans said politicians need to do something about climate change. they need to take legislative action. only 25% said no. don't do anything. 67% to 25%. if we had a functioning democracy, there would be immediate action on that. but in reality there is not a peep. so i've been covering politics for about 17 years now. the reason that i'm passionate

about campaign finance reform is it is the rosetta stone of politics. if you want to know who's going to win on any given issue it always comes back to the same thing. follow the money. >> we're back of course with professor tricia rose and general michael hastings. you know, cenk has a really weird way of spending his vacations. but very seriously michael you know this election, how was it affected or was it even affected. we see obama won. we know how much money the super pacs raised for mitt romney and his campaign. how did money really affect this election? >> if you look at the g.o.p. groups, they were very ineffective in terms of what they tried to do with that money. they could never accomplish a sustained campaign to define obama in any way that really stuck. now, on the democratic side, the obama campaign people, as they're doing their -- as they're doing the lessons viewed from 2012, the one thing they say is that they should have started the super pac earlier and they should have raised more

money than the $60 million they did. going forward, the democrats want to do more super pacing and the republicans have to figure out how to do it better. >> that's the best way to the put it in a nutshell. when you hear we need to raise more super pac money, it is not coordinated by the campaigns. we know it. but how much more blatant can they be? >> there's one of those glaring examples of 2012 was when rahm emen well -- emanuel decided he was going to raise money for the super pac and apparently it is perfectly legal or at least they claim it is perfectly legal. i don't know. i'm not too convinced but yeah, the idea -- no one is following the spirit of the law because everyone thinks the law is a joke. when everyone thinks the law is a joke, you have to start questioning if the law has any value at all. >> this is not tricia, just a republican issue. >> no. >> clearly not. listening to what michael is saying. >> michael and -- i usually agree with you. this i must differ.

this idea they weren't successful can only be answered if we say they didn't win. someone always has to lose. they doesn't mean they weren't successful. because money shapes the conversation. it tells us what things matter and what the spin for those issues that matter should be. and so -- as cenk pointed out climate change is off the map. nobody mentioned the prison industrial complex clearly not on the agenda of either party. any social issues that would be if money were not driving the way we understand these problems. >> tricia, that's a fantastic point because you know, the issues that aren't discussed because the money isn't there are fascinating when you look at the elections. one of the things i'll put out there is i think the money impacted the house elections this year. not just because the republicans would be them -- won them, they had more money but the republicans learned they weren't making the dent in mitt romney because they had terrible candidates. they went down to the house races where the power of

incumbency is stronger is. there any proof to that argument? >> i would say look, this isn't -- they're doing this at every single level but again i think we're really missing the big picture here if we don't focus on not only what's missing but how we talk about what's present because they can't -- that's what cenk ultimately -- >> would we be okay with a very rich person giving $100 million to let's start a climate change initiative. >> that's what democracy is for. if they want to donate after that, feel free. donate to think tanks let them solve the problem. don't tell them what has to come out of it. that's what democracy and governmental emphasis is about. the government is not some random star chamber. it is our representative. >> that's what michael is saying. if you donate to the think tank and the think tank is going to influence the lawmakers -- no. that's because there's no regulation to prevent those types of activities but that doesn't mean that people with resources can't participate in the process. but it is right now what they're doing is

disproportionately running it at a level that's unprecedented. you have the numbers yourself. 132. >> 132 people made up 60% of the pac. >> you will see an impact when you have millions of dollars going into state races. we saw with the wisconsin recall. i think that trend will continue as long as you can open -- because that means billionaires around the country can pick their pet causes and pick their pet candidates and just ship money their way. >> it creates indestructible incumbents which is what nobody wants. tomorrow cenk uygur will have more. we'll have more part of the discussion. coming up, new jersey governor chris christie takes orders from someone. can you guess who that might be. >> i endorsed mitt romney 13 months ago because i thought he was the best guy. on tuesday i'm voting for mitt romney because i think he's the best guy for the job. >> allen west, a tyt favorite finally concedes or does he? >> we brought up some incredible voting irregularities not just

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could care less about any of that stuff. i have a job to do. i've got 2.4 million people out of power. i've got devastation on the shore. i've got floods in the northern part of my state. if you think right now i give a damn about presidential politics, then you don't know me. >> in response to all of the fawning over barack obama that chris christie did on november 2nd, rupert murdoch tweeted this about chris christie. he said thanks, bloomberg. right decision. now chris christie must redeclare for romney or take blame for next four dire years. so, of course, what does he do? chris christie reads the tweet and calls rupert murdoch. he sucks up to rupert murdoch. he said listen, you've gotta say something good about mitt romney, about our candidate otherwise you could blow this whole thing. the very next day november 4th, i think it was november 3rd, yes november 4th this is the governor the next day. chris christie. >> i endorsed mitt romney 13

months ago because i thought he was the best guy for the job. on tuesday i'm voting for mitt romney. it doesn't mean i can't turn to the president of the united states of america and say thank you, sir for providing good leadership in this crisis and for helping the people of new jersey and to extend my hand of friendship to him. >> we're back now with everybody. jr. jackson anastacia tricia. what really troubled me about this was the fact that rupert murdoch could get on and say this is how we're doing this and chris christie goes up to the mic the next day. >> it is incredible how powerful michael rupert is especially when it comes to bullying certain individuals and convincing them to go on the record and change what they're saying. i think chris christie's response wasn't too bad because he did reiterate the fact that you know, he wants to congratulate the president for a job well-done. he has the right to do that. i like he didn't back down from

that. if the republicans keep looking for a scapegoat, they're going to continue losing elections because they refuse to recognize the real reasons why they lost the election. their ridiculous social policies that people aren't buying into anymore, their fiscal policies made absolutely no sense especially romney wanting to cut taxes by 20%. not even being able to do the math. if they want to continue keeping their head in the sand, i'm all for it. go ahead. >> their social policies, even chris christie buys into some of the social policies. jr, somebody can even bully chris christie, hard to believe. >> that's what i was noticing. you can maybe see how this happens. someone comes out and has these declarations, i was thinking i thought he took it upon himself. he was thinking man i think i'm starting to sound a little bad or he's listening to what people are saying, he's buddy-buddy with president obama. i can't do that. they'll give me flak for my speech at the rnc. at the same time, he has to make

sure he looks decent enough as we all think he's going to do to prepare himself for the next step. that still hung in there. i don't know if he can be happy about that. >> i think there is a formula with having differences in your party that may work to his favor if, in fact, he runs in 2016. tell us about chris christie and tell us about he and barack obama, michael. what happened when they were on marine i? what created this? >> one of the most interesting moments of the campaign was on air force i when president obama was flying around with bruce springsteen, a new jersey boy himself, obama got bruce on the phone with christie and bruce said governor, i support you. and that was a huge moment for chris christie. if bruce likes him i like him. but on a serious note, we often talk about the politicians. we want them to work bipartisanly and work with the other side. i think chris christie has shown he's capable to do that. i think he came through for his state. my grandmother is in new jersey. i drove through the state of new jersey as everyone was evacuating when that hurricane came in. so just --

>> you just can't stay away from a war zone. >> my editor said get to d.c. i got to d.c. but you know, so i can see there are policies chris christie would do that i may not be in favor of but i think as leaders go, as characters go, he's not bad. >> from an arrow when those sort of things transcended policy, people looked for leaders. you know, did you speak to anyone in the obama campaign that said this is working out pretty well for us. is was there anyone candid enough to say? >> no one would do that but if hypothetically, officials talked about this off the record, they would say that they appreciated -- that chris christie supports them. >> tricia rose, i want to talk to you a little bit about the campaign as we move forward. the obama campaign, this is jim messina. he's talking about taking the campaign and sort of using it as a model for how they run the administration going forward.

>> people just spent five years winning two presidential elections together. they're now not going to walk away and not help him you know, become the change they want to see. >> you know, this obviously i think, is a great idea. not just grassroots. go in, frame every issue the way you frame mitt romney then you'll have success with the issues that you're trying to legislate. >> you know, they're turning a technology-based situation -- they're using a technology-based analogy for what should be the mode of governance in which you articulate your policy in a compelling way and you make sure everyone gets it and everyone knows what's going on. so yeah, that's called leadership last time i looked. and building consensus or at least building networks of agreement to allow you to govern. so in that sense i think it's a little bit -- not quite dising uousut but qstionable. snking it inn t tough a a chnology door. they're saying we're going to build our base and invite people as in citizens, to continue to

participate. >> that was the 2012 campaign. that's how they want to do the administration. then there's the 2016 campaign. and man marco rubio is already at it. today trending hash tag 2016. marco rubio's got his rap songs. his favorite rap songs straight out of compton by nwa. killuminati and lose yourself by eminem. >> you can imagine i might have something to say. >> hip-hop. hmm, wonder. first of all, it is just a matter of time before republicans figured out oh, well, there's actually rap music that fits our political program. number one the very conditions that two out of these three articulate through lots of gun battles. are things that the republican policies created. i mean inner city crisis is the product of 40 years of republican war on drugs reduction in housing. creating unemployment. but it is even more specific. it is really quite perfect.

if you take killuminat and straight out of kornton both -- compton, both are a perfect set of policies. you ready? first one is gangster. who's more gangster than the republican party? jack it, take it, it is all mine. two, drugs. yeah just big pharma. different drugs run by different people. then there's the question of women, maybe not the question of reproduction but women, sex and sexuality. definitely a fundamental disregard. he should do a rap record. more money. >> i was just about to say everything you just said. that was really well put! thanks very much. you know one of the things -- i want to quickly show this. this is mitt romney. this is c17. i don't know why anyone would want to be president if two weeks later this is what you look like. man! when we come back, poverty and obesity are together.

it hits poor communities very hard. our special segment in current tv's continuing effort to fight hunger is coming up next. >> not that good of an example. >> why are you not a good example? >> well, because -- >>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

you know, americans this thanksgiving will throw out $282 million of uneaten turkey.

it is a shocking amount of money. they'll buy 736 million pounds of turkey and throw out 35% of it. it doesn't even get eaten. current tv has been doing now a series on hunger and during thanksgiving week, we remember it even more. one of the ties and -- to obesity and hunger is poverty. and i think that -- it bears looking at this issue under a microscope and here's a piece from an hbo series called -- this is from weight of the nation. currently available on hbo go. >> where you live matters. and it matters a lot. another way of putting this is does your zip code matter more than your genetic code. this is baltimore maryland. where they have a census track down near the inner harbor. the life expectancy of 62 years. another life expectancy up in northern baltimore 82 years.

20-year life expectancy different. this is cuyahoga county, cleveland. the greatest disparity in life expectancy. this is huff, an inner city neighborhood. average life expectancy of 64 years. eight miles down the road is lyndhurst with a life expectancy of close to 90 years. >> again, this is from the hbo series called weight of the nation. we're joined now of course i have michael and tricia with me joined by dr. anthony iton. anthony, when you see things like this and when we get numbers like this, what is done and where are they doing that? where are they processing these numbers? these facts that you are telling us? >> well, first of all, good afternoon. the best source of this data is death certificates. you and i and everybody you know that is watching this will one day have a death certificate. the goal is to manage the data

on the death certificate so health departments can collect the data, analyze the age at which people die their address when they die what their cause of death their race, ethnicity they can actually produce patterns of death as it is distributed across communities. you see the shocking disparities across communities over relatively small geographic areas. >> dr. iton, this is dr. practice trisha rose. i wanted to emphasize the spatial dimensions to the clip we just heard. so it sounds to me like from what i know about racial and class segregation that that's playing an important role here in the accumulation of risk and crisis and health disparities and all of the kinds of elements that relate to life expectancy. can you speak to that dimension and confirm that that might be playing a role or offer some other alternative explanation? >> yeah, well i think it is a mixed picture but it is very

interesting that you can actually go back in time as we did in alameda county in the oakland area of northern california and look at things like red lining maps and racial residential segregation racially restrictive covenants. you can actually map out areas where certain populations notably african-americans but also asian americans and latinos were not allowed to live. and where there was systemic disinvestment from those communities and then you come to today and you can overlay maps of life expectancy on those areas and you see the biggest disparities, actually occurring in the very same place as where there has been 20, 30, 40 years of systemic disinvestment from those communities. so the implication is that segregation has not only economic impacts but it also has profound health impacts that can be manifest in the actual length of people's lives. >> dr. iton, the idea here at current, the reason we're doing this is to bring people's attention to hunger.

when you tie them with poverty even more so. tell us about a program that's the fresh works fund program. are you familiar with this program and what it's doing to sort of make groceries greater availability to poor people? >> yeah. the fresh works fund is a program of the california endowment, my organization where we decided that rather than sitting around waiting for this problem to solve itself, that we would actually model some of the work happening already in the country and most notably in pennsylvania where the state actually seeded a fund to build grocery stores in low-income communities. we created the first and largest private fund in california. we put $30 million into a fund and invited other investors to participate in that fund. and raised over a relatively short period of time, almost $300 million. those $300 million are now dedicated to building grocery stores and other sources of healthy produce and the like in low-income communities. so-called food deserts.

>> dr. anthony iton, thank you clearly for the work you're doing and giving us all here at current something to think about as we sit down to thanksgiving dinner. for more, if you want to see more of this weight of the nation is available on hbo go. and coming up next, in just days marijuana becomes legal in two states. what does that really mean? >> do you see a day coming when i can walk into a convenience store or grocery store whatever and say give me a pack of marijuana cigarettes? >> if you're 21 years [ piano plays ] troy polamalu's going deeper. ♪ ♪ and so is head & shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. deep. like me. [ male announcer ] head & shoulders deep clean for men. ♪ ♪

>> marijuana legalization was just approved a few weeks good by voters in colorado and in washington. but the real question is how is that going to square with what the federal laws are which of course outlaw marijuana and you know, cbs news has obtained a key memo from federal prosecutors that suggest their position on this conundrum. >> federal law prohibits marijuana possession. the department of justice pointed to a memo from the deputy attorney general. persons who are in the business of cultivating selling or distributing marijuana are in violation of the controlled substances act regardless of state law. that left colorado's governor caught between federal law and his state. >> would you be advocating for this law with the federal government? >> i think as most people know, i didn't support the initiative. but you can't argue with the

will of the voters. right. we are here in a democracy. and the sentiment was pretty clear. >> last week, jair et polis who is a democrat, a congressman from colorado, sent a letter to the department of justice saying leave us alone. essentially. the california voters have already spoken. today steve cohen friend of our show, democrat from tennessee, the first district there said this in "the washington post" in an op eth. we ask that your departments take no enforcement action against anyone who acts in compliance with the laws of colorado, washington and any other states that choose to regulate access to marijuana for medicinal or personal use. it is not just the elected officials or the liberals. you have people who were in law enforcement, law enforcement against prohibition. this is the leap letter. after 40 years of the drug war people no longer look upon law enforcement as heroes but as people to be feared. this is particularly true in poor neighborhoods and those people of color and -- and those of people of color and it impacts our ability to fight

real crime. i'm joined with michael tricia, ana and we invite a criminal defense. sara, what happens? how does this work if there's a federal -- one federal law but the state makes up a law in colorado, the people have spoken. in colorado, they said listen, we want legalization. >> they voted for this. so good question. you know the issue here is that federal law always trumps state law and so when you're dealing with an individual who's going to purchase marijuana it is analogous to alcohol. it is regulated, it is legal. you can purchase it. you don't have to show a medical reason but you know, i think with the demand for marijuana now becoming legal you're also dealing with the supply. and when you start getting into this sort of increase in all of the growth houses and the drugs that are going to come in through the borders to the u.s. from mexico, from canada, especially like washington state

is a hub being so close to canada. then you deal with, you know, the feds stepping in and the d.a. stepping in and enphotgraphersing federal law because it really is -- and enforcing law. it is not about someone who has an ounce to use recreationally over the weekend. it is about how do we stop a van full of marijuana driving through the border and how do we know that's for washington state? and it's legal users. versus this war on drugs that we're fighting forever. >> michael, i want to ask you too. this puts the president and the justice department in a funny position. the people have spoken in two states. what is their posture? what do you think they're going to do? >> you have president obama a founding member of the -- his catch phrases was interception. he was known for grabbing the joint out of people's hands and inhaling. when he ran in '08, he would be

a marijuana dove on this stuff. we saw the crackdowns. so sara, how much control does the president have in terms of setting the policy of the federal government? can he pick up the phone and say bust these guys or not bust these guys? and will he? >> i mean -- will he, now the elections are over so anything is possible. but i mean i think the federal government can interfere intercept with this -- with these laws. >> without the executive getting involved. >> right. i think -- i don't think it needs to go that far. the federal government could show that the state's independence and promulgating its own laws versus the federal issues at hand such as the enforcement, i think if they can show that that outweighs the other that they could trump these laws but you always have -- in california right now it is effectively legal because it is medical marijuana, if it is for medical purposes, it is

legal. and you still deal with medical purposes. >> i'm wondering if you can speak to this other aspect because i think it is really going to play a role and it relates to what michael was saying before. if the law enforcement against prohibition group right leap, is basically saying the war on drugs made it difficult for them to fight real crime which is a heck of a statement, i'm wondering if you can speak to this in the context of the war on drugs over the past 40 years or so. and whether or not this is a step in a direction to at least disarm this war or reduce the power of this war in any way? >> i don't think so. the most -- the drug cases you see in the federal system are -- you're dealing with a lot of narcotics. coming in from china canada, mexico. it is very close to cartel activity. >> yes. >> and i don't see that legalizing marijuana is necessarily going to do away

with a war on drugs. >> maybe those street kids who have been stopped and frisked three and four times in the city of new york, at least they'll have less probable cause or something. >> absolutely. i think it is going to alleviate a lot of the burden on the judicial system. all of the kids coming in with misdemeanor tickets for possession of marijuana. i think it will do away with that. but in terms of the larger scale. as i said, the supply part of this i don't see how it would really make a difference. >> sara azarry, thank you. something all of us wanted to speak about. everything you said was so engrossing. thanks for being here. on "the young turks." when we come back, we have the elbow of the day. i want the people who watch our show, to be able to come away armed with the facts, and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also

about telling them, you're put on this planet for something more. i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action themselves. as a human being, that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

>> we go now to my friend eliot spitzer in new york who i know is covering the middle east tonight. it is a crisis that keeps going. eliot, tell us what's in store. >> eliot: it is unfortunately -- everybody thought there was a cease-fire ready to be announced. instead a couple of more days of war at least. p.j. crowley from the state department. ambassador ginsberg will tell us what's going on. who's winning losing, if there are any winners. robert reich talking about economics as always. a probably one of the smartest guys out there. congressman grijalva, can we do anything this congressional term. >> we're going to keep talking about climate change. sounds like a great show.

>> eliot: i hope somebody listens. stop talking act! >> that's right. everybody should w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. i may be giving something away here but repreresentative allen west has conceded. he's a lame duck representative. the only republican in the caucus will no longer a congressman. allen west brought us beauties like this. >> i believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the democratic party that are members of the communist party. 78 to 81. there are a few guys who are a little communist but i won't say they're exactly communist. this is representative west. this is his concession.

>> we're not going to go forth and contest the certified results that st. lucie county set up so we're going to move ahead. we wish congressman murphy-elect a very well. we brought up incredible voting irregularities not just in st. lucie county but some in palm beach county. now is is not the time for people to be left in a lurch. >> back with michael hastings, tricia rose and jayar jackson has been hammering west for years. jayar, the party is over. anything you want to say? >> it has been two weeks since the election. they say you're not supposed to gloat and celebrate the demise of a politician but when you self-describe harry tubman and -- i can see your flattop in the ring. >> drop it. here it comes! jayar jackson, all over allen west. good-bye congressman. tricia rose, gotta make you happ